10 June 2004

Educational Spots

The Chronicle of Higher Education assigned me a series of spot illustrations this month for a special supplement edition on school finances. I came up with the idea of tying them all together with a 'price tag' theme, and worked variations on it depending on the particular article or topic that each would accompany.

In addition to the series of spots, I also had a few other assignments for the same publication that month. The one to the left was something to do with incoming freshmen, who tend to 'stick with their pals' instead of venturing forth into the education community, and thus end up sort of isolated and insular. (I don't remember why I stuck them all in 'where's waldo' outfits).

I also had another spot assignment, although I don't quite remember what the focus of this one was (individual attention perhaps? standing out from the crowd?). Looking back on it now, I doubt if I would have chosen these overbright and garish colors, especially the hot red/orange in the background. It is very distracting.Interesting choice of background treatment on these spots. Something I've not done before, or since (although I think I did something similar for a children's magazine series of spot illustrations before). It is a little looser and more playful than I usually allow myself to do.It seems to make a nice contrast with the simplified scratchboard approach I'm using here. Also I like the choice of colors, the white of the 'tag' popping out of the background, and the simpler color choices within the scenes.I'm not sure about the choice I made with the 'shark' illustration though. The swirling water melding with the background gives this a little different feel than the rest. Also, I'm not sure I would choose this particular typestyle for the dollar sign if I had these to do again. Perhaps something more 'traditional' would have worked better. I'm also noticing that I seem to have used a single background and then cloned it for each illustration. I probably should have done a couple of them and mixed them up a bit (even perhaps rotating them 90 degrees each time to hide the fact that they were the same).

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about

Tim Foley has been in the Graphic Arts industry since 1979 and has been freelance illustrating since 1989. Clients have included Barrons, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, Consumer Reports, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Penguin Books, Harper Collins, Dover Publications among others. Living and working in Grand Rapids Michigan since the early 80s, he is married and has a son who is a Jazz saxophone player who lives in Chicago. Aside from illustrating, Tim dabbles in music on the side and spends his summer vacations sailing on Lake Michigan.

Tim has been maintaining this blog since around 2007, with the desire to chronicle the ups and downs of his illustration career, and to function as a sort of clearing house for his back catalog of illustrations. Along the way, the previous 17+ years of surviving artwork has been cataloged and chronologically backdated (and more is added as it is unearthed from musty basement flat files).

All imagery on this site copyright Tim Foley Illustration Inc. and may not be reused or reprinted without permission. Most of the work that appears here has appeared in print elsewhere, and many, but not all are available as reprints for your own publications and/or websites. Please contact the illustrator regarding terms, conditions and availability (higher resolution digital files can be provided and sent to your email address).